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We Fish have just been so busy with all holiday merry-making & fête-ing festivities, I just haven’t had the time to share the fabulous results we’ve been nibbling & noshing from my new favorite cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance!

I’ve barely had this fabulous book a week and it is already staying open to certain pages when opened and has a beautiful dusting of flour decorating its cover- always a good sign when it comes to cookbook behaviour.

The first recipe I tried was the Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins. As I began assembling the bowls, pans, etc., The Guppy began squealing ‘cupcakes! cupcakes!’ Now, I don’t often make muffins. I don’t think I’ve made muffins since sometime last spring, but the thing is, I don’t make cupcakes very often either! The last time I made them was for the Guppy’s second birthday last May (and no, she doesn’t eat them at parties or at school or in secret with Mr. Fish), so her knowing right away what they were based on the muffin-tin surprised me (and I thus once again concluded that she is just a brilliant child, not at all influenced by the fact that she is mine…). So since last Saturday, we now call muffins ‘morning cupcakes’ in the Fish household, and that does indeed make them sound oh-so-much-more festive.

Back to the muffins, or rather, breakfast cupcakes.

They were a snap to make- and when I say snap, I mean really straight-forward and easy. It was about a 30-minute project from start to finish, though I need to state that my psycho-oven cooks things way faster than it should. They were just slightly chewy on the outside and spongy & moist on the inside, fragrant & delicious. I ended up with 15 rather than 12 muffins (no complaints here) and they were gone by the end of the day…

For dinner, I opted for the Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy, and was dazzled, simply dazzled. I love miso gravies in general, but every time I make one from a cookbook it states most seriously that boiling the miso will send me straight to hell and the plagues will arrive post-haste and the sun will shine no more… so I dutifully add my miso (regardless of grain) after I’ve taken my pan off the flame.

Seriously, every recipe I’ve ever followed using miso made it clear that the miso should not be boiled or simmered as it would become very bitter. Now the first time I follow a recipe I try to follow it to the letter (this is a very difficult thing for me and I nearly never am able to follow through), so despite my concern about apocalyptic consequences if I did indeed simmer the miso, I trusted the recipe and must say that I did the right thing. It was so, so good, and really basic. It was sort of like a down-home meat & potatoes tofu dish (who knew?) thick and meaty and gravy-esque. I served it up on vegan mashed potatoes and the Fish Family was delighted indeed. The recipe called for chickpea miso, I used barley miso, but I will try to track down some chickpea miso for the next time.

Vegan with a Vengeance is batting two for two…

A very merry solstice & a happy christmas & a groovy hanukka & a festive kwanzaa to all…